Less than a year ago we were preparing to launch Windows 8, which introduced our vision of highly personalized mobile computing. And here we are today announcing the global availability of Windows 8.1. Windows 8.1 demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving the product to create a richer customer experience. We are excited to have customers start updating their devices today and getting to experience new Windows devices this holiday season.

Nice page, though, and yes I'm stunned as well. Even when we do careful user preference testing, the users in the wild still often grab their pitchforks and charge the towers with screams of rage, demanding less efficient methods of interacting with their computers. Glad I'm not a psychologist.

Modern ATM machines can count money almost instantly after you request it, however you still have to wait about 10 seconds for it to count ... this is because people don't believe that it is counting the cash properly.

While you're on the subject ... Modern car doors can be made very safe & very light. But no one believes that, especially as they're so thick these days, they just feel cheap.

So the car manufacturers painstakingly arrange a series of weights inside the doors to make them feel heavy when you open or shut them, & spend weeks trying to get the ker-chunk noise really ker-chunky.

There are many instances where the command line is faster but we don't see normal users navigating via a terminal because of it. People like intuitive and familiar at the same time. Gnome shell tried this stunt and it was largely unpopular, Windows tried it with 8 and... same result. I commend Microsoft for taking a leap as much as I detest them in all their aspects taking a bold step could of worked out huge, if only they hit the nail on the head ( Iphone UI )... instead of whatever 8 is/was.